BANNG has long maintained that there is no need for a new nuclear power station at Bradwell. The costs, in terms of the long-lasting, physical damage to the tranquil and vulnerable Blackwater estuary, of the finances, of the potential for terrorist attacks and of the uncertainties around investment by a potentially hostile state, are too high. Nuclear power is an old-fashioned technology and given the continuing success and decreases in the costs of renewables and storage, there will be no need for it by the time Bradwell B could be in operation. In its partnership with EDF, CGN, a Chinese state-owned nuclear company, is the majority two-thirds stakeholder in the Bradwell B project. However, it seems now that CGN is wavering. In the Financial Times of 18 September it was reported that CGN ‘has admitted that political sensitivities could prompt it to give up the chance to operate a new atomic power plant in the UK’. The Chinese withdrawal, should it come, would appear to reflect widespread concerns about the security issues surrounding Chinese investment into a highly sensitive part of the UK’s national infrastructure. In the Financial Times, Zheng Dongshan, Chief Executive of CGN’s UK subsidiary, is reported as acknowledging that it would take time for CGN ‘to show the public, the government they can trust us’. Andy Blowers, Chair of BANNG, said: ‘The project may be doomed anyway as the Bradwell B site is totally unsuitable and is opposed by communities all around the Blackwater estuary.’
BANNG 22nd Oct 2018 read more »